Price Paid:  $55.00 from Crutchfield

Summary:
If these were more expensive ,they would get higher reviews.How many 5.25" speakers have a 1" silk dome tweeter,rubber surrounds, and can reach true low frequencies below 70 hz ? They also have plastic coated fiber woofers(like JBL's PolyPlas?); Warm and accurate speakers, at a bargain price. In my opinion they are better than Polk 15's which I have owned. Bought these to experiment with, but was shocked by their sound quality.They are a little bigger in cabinet size than most 5.25 " speakers, and the lower bass response is the happy consequence. At 55 a pair bucks you can't lose. A great stereo dorm speaker, or 5.1 "rears."

Strengths:
Low bass response; 1" silk dome tweeter; great balanced sound; Heavy cabinet and well finished vinyl covering and grill.

Weaknesses:
None, unless you spend three times as much.

Similar Products Used:
Klipsh, Polk , Infinity, Athena technologies,Paradigm, Cerwin Vega, Axiom,and many more over the past thirty five years.

Price Paid:  $40.00 from sears CLEARENCE

Summary:
First off..for those who gave them a bad review...Dont comapre them to the speakers you demo'd in the high end audio room from your local retailer...I am using four of these beauty's and matching center for my home theatre..and they are amazing...I would have paid full price approx. 130 dollars a pair...they produce great sounstage overall..and for thoise of you complaining about the low end..there is something they call a subwoofer created to handle that area..I coupled my AR's w/ a Yamaha yst-320..299 @ J and R..(Highly recommend and you can probably get it a lot cheaper now) and these speakers sound amazing for H/T..as for music..They are O.K to good...they really are not that responsive w/ demanding misic..however for classic, light country jazz, etc..they do the job rather nicely....and for thos of you camparing them to Tannoy,JBL et...Please, gimmie a break..we are talking apples and oranges and hunreds of dollars...and you actually have to own those brand of speakers to honestly compare them to..

Strengths:
sound amazing for H/T...they look $$$..I had friends thinking I paid hunreds of dollars even after hearing them..

Weaknesses:
none for the money,

Similar Products Used:
Old Polk towers(by the way I sold after buying these AR's)to be honest w/ you the AR's sounded almost as good as my POLK's for H/T USE(if you were wondering, My dad gave them to me and they were approx. 12 years old)..

Price Paid:  $58.00 from ebay

Summary:
I disagree with the review below. The speakers have very good sound stage and the high isn't hash at all. They have total tonal balance but also depend on speakers placement too. Overall, I am satisfy with this speaker. I pair them up with my Pioneer reciever and they are really shine. Come on, if Acoustic Research isn't that good, they would not last long until now. I believe that the company has made hi-end speaker since 1947.

Strengths:
Good sound stage, Crisp highs, Well builds and looks good. Best bang for your buck.

Weaknesses:
Make in China?

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer, Sony, NHT, Infinity, JBL, and you name it...

Price Paid:  $50.00 from uBid

Summary:
I have both the indoor/outdoor and the bookshelf versions of this product--6 pairs total. Crutchfield was selling these speakers for almost $200/pair when I began buying them at $50/pair. I am using 3 pair outdoors, and 3 pair indoors. They are efficent enough that, even outdoors, they sound fine even at 30% volume on receivers/amps ranging in power from 65 - 100 wpc. Two pairs of the indoors speakers are in a bedroom HT, where I also have the matching AR center channel and sub. I am terrifically pleased with both the appearance and quality of all the speakers. Granted, they are not the equal of my Klipsch, but, for the price, they sound great. When I finished the HT set up, using a Yamaha HTR 5250, I was amazed at the output.

Strengths:
Quality, price.

Weaknesses:
Given the price, none.

Similar Products Used:
Klipsch KG 3.2s, KV 3, SW 10.

Price Paid:  $80.00 from sears

Summary:
Great speakers, this speakers are perfect for rear channel. The highs are crystal clear.

Strengths:
Clarity and price. Match perfect with another AR speakers, specially the ps series.

Weaknesses:
The bass, but that is logicall.

Similar Products Used:
AR 328, 428 ps.